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the Research Department is kept fully informed of actions taken by the groups and to enable sections to check that their groups are working as effectively as possible.
Sections have been encouraged to establish coordination groups (groups of members within the section who specialize in a particular country or area) to aid and advise on the work of their adoption groups on behalf of prisoners in one country or area of the world. There are 78 coordination groups at the present time.
A major part of the work of the Coordination Unit concerns development. If Amnesty International is to work for human rights universally and to represent the force of worldwide public opinion, it must become more culturally diverse, and it must correct the imbalance in its present membership by growth outside Europe and North America.
This is also true if AI wishes to act with greater effectiveness in the countries of the third world. Long-range efforts in human rights education and the devel- opment of indigenous AI activities are imperative.
Over the past two years Al's International Council has recognized the need to foster development in the third world, and a major step in this direction was proposed in 1972 by the Indian Section. After considerable exploration, their initiative resulted in the appointment of a member of the International Secretariat to work in South Asia as a regional field secretary.
The project has already proved valuable in strengthening the work of AI national sections in the region, in building contacts with other non-governmental organizations, in publicizing the work of Amnesty International and in exploring techniques for work and growth.
Following the decisions of the Vienna and Askov International Councils, and with the helpful financial support of the X-Y Foundation in the Netherlands, a South Asia Regional Conference was held on 20-23 March 1975 at the Gandhi Peace Foundation, New Delhi. This was the first meeting of its kind in Al's history. It was designed to bring AI members in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka together so that they could discuss common problems and develop a common strategy for their work.
In response to a proposal by the Japanese Section at the Askov council meeting, plans are underway to hold an AI Pan-Pacific Conference on Human Rights in Tokyo in December 1975.
In 1974, a second field secretary was sent out from the International Secretariat, with generous financial assistance from the Canadian University Service Overseas, to explore the possibilities for Al growth in a number of Latin American countries. The field secretary, himself a Latin American, left London in December after working for several months within the secretariat in prepara- tion for his mission. The countries chosen were Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Costa Rica and Panama.
He was commissioned to "establish contact on as wide a basis as possible with individuals, organizations, and other bodies that are likely to be interested in Al's activities, to explore the various means whereby support can be obtained from existing organizational structures and assess the contacts established and advise the International Secretariat on their present value and future potential,
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